Fibrous material and method of making the same



P A 1. ani 4 y l w FM 7 .D In l p INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY5.

E HURST FIBROUS MATERIAL AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 28, 1934 Sept. 22, 1936.

STATES muons MATERIAL AND METHOD or MAKING THE SAME Edward Hurst, West Newton, Mass, assignor to United Cotton Products Company. Fall River, Mass., a corporation of'Massachusetts Application April 28, 1934, Serial No. mass 10 Claims. (or. 19-155) This invention relates to a novel and improved form of fibrous material and method of makingthe same, the novel features of which will be best understoodfrom the following description and the annexed drawing, in which I have shown a selected embodiment of the invention and in which: t

Fig; 1 -is-Ea verticaI sectional diagrammatic view of an apparatus which may be used in the practice of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of part of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a'perspectiv'e view of a small part of the web before impregnating;

Fig. 4 is a. view on an enlarged scale illustrating diagrammatically how the different membranes come together.

The invention oi this application is an improvement upon certain features disclosed in the copending application of myself and Myrick Crane, Ser. No. 673,392. In that application and in a division thereof we have disclosed and. claimed the general combination shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing of this application, together with the method of operating the same and the resulting product.

As more fully set forth in that application, the invention may be practiced by forming a plurality oi what may conveniently be termed.

membranes, on cards i, these cards being of any suitable or usual form. Each of these cards is provided with the usual doffer 2 and comb 3 adapted to remove the membrane, or lap, as it is sometimes called, from the doffer. The membranes t, 5, 6, and l coming from the respective cards are passed through orifices 8 in the floor ton to a conveyor iii which may be vibrated as described in said copendlng application, to aid in causing an interlocking of the fibers of the respective membranes, to form what may conveniently be termed a web H, which may be passed between rolls i2 and then to the impregnating rolls i8 associated with the vat it. The impregnated web may then be dried upon a i'estoon drier iii. The material used may be cotton or any other unspun fibrous material found to be suitable.

' In the practice of the invention as described and claimed in the aforesaid copending application, I have 'found that improved results are achieved by the method which I shall now describe. Reierring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the membran whichlm this jigure is shown-as themembrane A, is taken by the It is well known that such a membrane of spun fibers, as the comb removes it from. the dollar of a card, is extremely light and filmy, and this is particularly true with cotton fibers to which I have found that my invention is par ticularly adaptable. The fibers of cotton, as well known, are kinky in the natural state, and this klnkiness is removed to some extent during the carding process, this carding resulting in the arrangement of the fibers in the lap or mem brane approximately parallel to each other and extending in a direction longitudinally of the membrane. The membrane formed of these fibers is extremely weak, as is well known.

I have discovered that I can so treat such membrane that its strength will be substantially increased and so that the fibers therein will be interlocked and interwoven with each other in a multiplicity of planes. At the same time, the membrane is so processed that it will easily cornbinepwith other membranes when placed in corn tact therewith, and which have been similarly processed.

The above results are achieved by what I may conveniently term aerodynamic weaving. One method'of operation can be best understood from Fig. 2, where the membrane d is shown as coming from the card 3 and passing through one of the orifices 8 in the floor 9. Extending upwardly from the rear wall it of the orifice is a wall l7 having a smooth surfaceadiacent the membrane, and extending upwardly from the opposite wall ii? of the orifice is a second wall l9jlikewise having a smooth surface facing the membrane and extending up above the comb The membrane, after leavingthe .dofier, is caused to pass downwardly between-the walls ll? and i9 and through the orifice on to the conveyor.

to show the enclosing means in the drawing.

Thedifferential inpressure between the air beneath the floor 9 and that between the walls I? and I9 is, of course, a slight one, because of the delicacy of the material being handled, but neverthelessit is a positive one and onewhich is care fullncontrolled-fto' get the desired results.

The walls of the'orlfice 8 are preferably stream lined in some such manner as indicated, so as to without substantially disturbing said continuity, and passing said membrane along a walled conduit.

2. The method of forming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers, passing currents of air along opposite sides of said membrane, preventing turbulence in said currents suificiently to maintain the continuity of the membrane, causing some of said air to flow through the membrane with sufficient force to change the relation of the fibers therein to each other without substantially disturbing said continuity, passing said membrane along a walled conduit, and causing the currents of air an opposite sides of the membrane to maintain it out of contact with the walls of the conduit.

3. The method offorming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers, passing said membrane along a current of air traveling in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of the membrane, and causing said air to pass through said membrane, said air being under a pressure which is sufficient in amount to change the positions of the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other, but is insufficient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane.

4. The method of forming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers, passing currents of air along opposite sides of said membrane, maintaining a differential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause some of the air to flow therethrough, said differential being sufficient in amount to change the positions of .the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other, but being insufficient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane. v

5. The method of forming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers, passing currents of air along opposite sides of said membrane, maintaining a difierential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause some of the air to flow therethrough, said differential being sufilcient in amount to change the positions of the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other, but insufficient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane, and preventing turbulence in said air sufficient to disturb said continuity.

6. The method of forming a web which comprises carding unspun fibers to form a membrane, passing said membrane along a walled conduit and through an orifice against currents of air fiowing through said orifice and along said conduit on opposite sides of the membrane, maintaining a differential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause some of the air to fiow therethrough, said differential being sufilcient in amount to change the positions of the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other. but insufiicient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane.

7. The method of forming a web which comprises carding unspun fibers to form a membrane, passing said membrane along a walled conduit and through an orifice against currents of air flowing through said orifice and along said conduit on opposite sides of the membrane, maintaining a differential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause some of the air to fiow therethrough, said differential being sufiicient in amount to change the positions of the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other, but insufficient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane, and preventing turbulence in said air sufficient to disturb said continuity.

8. The method of forming a web which comprises carding upspun fibers to form a membrane, passing said membrane along a walled conduit and through an orifice while maintaining it substantially out of contact with the walls of said conduit and orifice, and directing a current of air into contact with said fibers under a pressure which is sufiicient in amount to change the positions of the individual fibers relative to each other and thus to cause them to interlock with each other, but is insufficient to substantially disturb the continuity of the membrane,

9. The method of forming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers. maintaining a differential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause a current of air to flow therethrough, said differential being sufficiently high in amount to change the positions of individual fibers within the membrane, relatively to each other, and thus to cause said fibers to interlock with each other, but being suiiiciently low in amount to avoid substantial disturbance of the continuity of the membrane.

10. The method of forming a web which comprises forming a membrane of unspun fibers, passing said membrane through an orifice, and maintaining within said orifice a diiferential of pressure between opposite sides of the membrane to cause a current of air to fiow therethrough, said differential being sufficiently high in amount to change the positions of individual fibers within the membrane, relatively to each other, and thus to cause said fibers to interlock with each other, but being sufficiently low in amount to avoid substantial disturbance of the continuity of the membrane.

EDWARD HURST. 

